A/N: Yay! Reviews! Thanks so much everyone! I posted a link on Tumblr and it seemed to garner some attention (Tumblr has become something of a Loki-verse and I know we're all totally ok with that lol). Here's the next chapter, which has a bit of fluff that I loved writing. Definitely doing more chapters/parts like this in the future.

Elena closed her eyes to hold back what she knew would be a storm of tears. She wasn't about to break down. Not now, not here. Her heart was already aching from before, and now, knowing everything she thought she knew, was an absolute and complete lie, Elena feared the inevitable: vulnerability.

"Oh, why don't you read my mind, then," she scoffed, feeling a tear escape, "It's what you enjoy doing."

Loki wet his lips, "If you think I will profit from your pain, you are sorely mistaken."

Elena laughed a bit, "Says the god who would kill his own brother for the thrown."

Loki sighed, taking a bit of strength to ignore her comment, "Let it out. Come on, now."

"Well…." Elena forced herself to look at him, "My father…said they were vacationing in Europe, and came to Croatia, unaware a war was beginning…"

"Go on…"

"Their…hotel was blown up by a Serbian bomber, and…they found me, a baby, left in the rubble. My mother couldn't just leave me there…"

Loki looked at her with genuine concern, "So they rescued you."

"And never felt the need to tell me?" Elena was now fully crying, "But how? I've spent my entire life wondering why I wasn't like anyone in my family. Why I didn't share their greed or their lust for money. I mean, yes, my father has purchased this apartment for me, but I…"

Loki, in spite of himself, reached across the way and grasped both of her hands in his, "Elena. If you know about my life as you say, you will remember that I experienced something of a similar nature."

"Yes," Elena nodded, "But Loki…I've just found out no one in my family is really mine. I'm not a Ward at all, I'm just…just an orphan."

"You can't be certain of that."

"Does it matter?" Elena stood up, "And whoever my parents are…they cursed as well?"

"I don't follow."

"Every time they feel something, do they see things around them begin to shatter?" As if on cue, a picture on the wall fell to the floor. "Do people they thought were their friends, resort to calling them a 'freak,' a 'weirdo' and get sent to countless psychiatrists and doctors to find out what is wrong with them?" Elena collapsed on the floor in a heap of hysterical tears. "Did they, too, get shipped off to boarding schools and eventually sent to a distant city, so as not to be burden to their family?"

Loki swallowed, "Elena…"

"At least you knew you were a frost giant. I don't even know if I'm Croatian, Serbian…or whatever else there might be."

Burying her face in her hands, Elena couldn't see him, but heard his footsteps. Before she could say anything, Loki was seated next to her, his bright eyes staring into her.

"Elena Ward."

She gasped, "Loki Odinson."

"Look at me, please. I beg of you."

Elena raised her head and his eyes met hers.

"I've…a proposition," Loki said, feeling his voice shake, "I am aware that our acquaintance is brief, and yet our meeting seems to have been by destiny…"

Elena nodded.

"But…I believe that destiny, cannot be determined by anyone but oneself," Loki continued, "And I am certain, that my destiny has wished for me to come into contact with you." He reached over and wiped a tear from her cheek, "Elena Ward, you are not of the human realm as you believe, as I am not of Asgard. Your…inhuman strengths and abilities…are leading me to believe you are something far greater."

"And what might that be?" she whispered, her voice hoarse.

"I declare, you may be the daughter of Malekith."

Elena frowned, "…who?"

"The Dark Elves, when the Asgardians fought them ages ago, by legend and lore, their leader, Malekith, was bore an heir, a child in which to lead them should he be destroyed," Loki explained gently, knowing in his mind the pain he was surely causing her, "And that heir disappeared, only to fall to this realm." He shook his head, "No one, save for the guard of the bridge, knows where…"

Elena gently clutched her hand around Loki's wrist, "So I'm a monster."

"Well…in accordance to legend, the Dark Elves-"

"I've researched everything to do with the realms, Loki," Elena assured him, "And have been since my dreams have occurred. I know who the Dark Elves are. I just…I've never truly read about their leader, because…."

"Yes?"

Elena found herself blushing, "They had little to do with the man I was dreaming about."

Loki felt a small smirk in the corner of his mouth, "We're not as different as I thought, you and I. Both of us, forgotten by our predecessors and forced to live a lie…"

"How did you learn to use your powers?" Elena asked suddenly, catching him at an off moment.

"How did I learn? Why do you ask?"

"You said something interesting a moment ago. Something about…choosing your own destiny." Elena brought herself to stand, bringing him with her. "Maybe you could teach me, and I could join you."

Loki felt his stomach jump, for reasons he unknown, "What?"

Before she could respond, the teakettle began to whistle. Elena quickly rushed into the kitchen to turn off the heater. Loki followed, though with a slower pace.

"But first," Elena turned to him and handed him a cup of lemon tea, "Let me get rid of this nasty cold you've got. And then you can show me what powers you possess, in all their greatness. As for me, I'll show you what I've got."

Loki took a quick drink and spat it out, "This is ghastly!"

"So is being sick, which reminds me," Elena felt his forehead with the back of her hand, "Uh oh, I think you're about to get hit pretty hard. You should go get back in bed and let me take care of you."

"Take care of me?" Loki scoffed, "How do you propose you do that?"

"Same way I have been for the past few hours," Elena insisted, "But I promise, it won't be for long."

"As for the previous proposition in regards to your abilities?"

"I'll show you," Elena promised, "Don't worry. I just don't want to risk you being of ill health when you return to Asgard."

"What makes you think I've intent of returning to Asgard?" Loki asked as she ushered him back to bed.

"Remember, I've been in your head," Elena said with a wink that almost made him blush, "Now, just get comfortable and I'll be right back with medicine."

Loki sighed. He wasn't sure if he should trust her, but then again, she was kind of like him. Actually, she was very much like him, only with a streak of kindness that he did not possess.

Within moments, he found Elena fluffing up the pillows and checking his temperature, asking if he needed anything. Loki just looked at her in disbelief.

"I'm doing this because you're about to get hit with a nasty fever," Elena told him, responding to his questioning looks, "And once you're better, you can thank me."

Loki rolled his eyes, not sure if that was going to happen.

Elena didn't leave his bedside, watching as a high temperature ran through Loki's body and he grew very sick. The sun had just set when Loki began to experience the horrors of an earth sickness. Sweating like crazy, Elena tried her best to keep his temperature reasonable.

"How…how do you handle this?" Loki asked, shaking with fear and sickness, "I'm ready to die."

"You're not allowed to die," Elena told him, forcing yet another bowl of chicken soup into his mouth, "Loki Odinson, if you don't eat this you'll be sick even longer!"

He glared at her, "I can scarcely taste it, and yet it's foul. I'd sooner devour my own fingers."

Elena sighed. It was like taking care of a child. The majority of the night she stayed there, dabbing his forehead with the cloth to lower the heat, talking to him to take his mind off things, and before she knew it, it was past midnight.

She had nearly fallen asleep at his bedside when she heard him begin to shiver. Elena sat up, awakened instantly, seeing he was in some sort of psychological pain due to the fever chills. Then she remembered he was a frost giant.

Loki's eyes met her with a desperate, sad gaze. He was shaking uncontrollably. His hand grasped hers, and instantly, Elena was given an insight to what was in his mind: the feeling of abandonment, in the middle of a cold, empty battlefield. The fear. The uncertainty. All of it was hitting him harder than anything, and she could feel every piece of it as though she too were experiencing it.

"I'm…scared…" Loki whispered, breaking the thoughts.

Elena found herself crawling in next to him, getting under the sheets. She pressed him to her, so his head was just below her neck, resting on her soft chest. Elena brought her hands to his raven hair, running her fingers through it soothingly.

"It's ok, I'm here," she whispered, "Nothing can hurt you. Nothing will touch you. I promise, it's alright, I'm here…"

She could feel his heart pounding like crazy, and it only made her wish there was more she could do. But Loki seemed to like this, although she was a stranger, and pressed closer to her, closing his eyes. She'd been vulnerable in front of him, and now he was in front of her. Or rather, resting against her protective bosom.

At some point, they both fell asleep, and Loki, for the first time, felt something in his heart that he didn't think he was capable of feeling.